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Pipe Mania
Pipe Mania is a puzzle game developed in 1989 by The Assembly Line for the Amiga. It was ported to several other platforms by Lucasfilm Games, who gave it the name Pipe Dream and acted as general distributors for the US. In this game, the player must connect randomly appearing pieces of pipe on a grid to a given length within a limited time. The Windows version of the game was included in the MS Windows Entertainment Pack. In 1990, it was released as an arcade game by Japanese manufacturer Video System Co. Ltd., though with slightly altered gameplay, giving the player the task to connect a source and drain with the random pipe pieces. Long after its initial release, the Pipe Mania concept re-emerged as a minigame representing hacking or security system bypassing in larger video games. Gameplay Using a variety of pipe pieces presented randomly in a queue, the player must construct a path from the start piece for the onrushing sewer slime, or "flooz" (the 1991 Windows version's help files refer to it as "goo"), which begins flowing after a time delay from the start of the round. Pieces may not be rotated; they must be placed as presented in the queue. The player can replace a previously laid piece by clicking on it, as long as the flooz has not yet reached it; however, doing so causes a short time delay before the next piece can be laid. The flooz is required to pass through a given number of pipe pieces in order for the player to continue to the next round. Some rounds also include an end piece, which must be the end of the pipeline the player has constructed, in addition to fulfilling the minimum pipe length requirement. Completing the sewer pipeline in the time allotted allows the player to advance to the next level, which means a shorter interval from the start of the round until the flooz starts flowing, as well as faster-flowing flooz. On higher levels, some special pipe pieces appear in the game, such as reservoirs, one-way sections, and bonus sections. Obstacles and wrap-around sections also appear on the game board on higher levels. If a player is able to finish the level using five cross-section pieces and filling them both ways, 5,000 bonus points are awarded. Bonus rounds present the player with a grid full of pipe pieces and one open space; the goal is to slide the pieces around and make the longest possible path for the flooz. Reception The game was reviewed in 1994 in Dragon #211 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Jay did not rate the game, but Dee gave the Macintosh version of the game 2½ out of 5 stars, and the Windows version 4½ stars. Legacy Many clones of Pipe Mania have been produced, under titles such as Wallpipe, Oilcap, Oilcap Pro, MacPipes, Pipe Master, Pipeworks, DragonSnot, PipeNightDreams, and Fun2Link. Many Nokia cell phones come with a free version of the game called Canal Control. A version with 3D graphics was released for the PlayStation in 2000, titled Pipe Dreams 3D in the US and Pipe Mania 3D in the UK. In September 2008, Empire Interactive released a remake of Pipe Mania for Windows, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable. Hacking minigames Within BioShock, a variation of the game exists as a means of hacking machinery. Alien Swarm, Saints Row IV and Warframe also use Pipe Dream-like minigames to represent hacking tasks. The North Korean game Railway Assemblage (Chosongul:렬차길 맞추기 Hanja:列車길 맞추기), sponsored by North Korean propaganda regime Uriminzokkiri (Chosongul:우리민족끼리) and released on December 9, 2006, includes a simplified version of Pipe Mania. The game involves joining together sections of railway in order to build a fast railroad track from South Korea to North Korea, before the KTX-shaped train appears on the screen. References External links * KLOV entry for Pipe Dream * Category:1989 video games Category:Puzzle video games Category:Acorn Archimedes games Category:Amiga games Category:Amstrad CPC games Category:Apple IIGS games Category:Apple II games Category:Mac OS games Category:Atari ST games Category:Commodore 64 games Category:Game Boy games Category:Microsoft Entertainment Pack Category:NEC PC-8801 games Category:NEC PC-9801 games Category:Nintendo Entertainment System games Category:DOS games Category:Windows games Category:SAM Coupé games Category:Sharp X68000 games Category:ZX Spectrum games Category:Arcade games Category:BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Category:LucasArts games Category:Video games developed in the United Kingdom Category:Video System games